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That's what I would have said but for an old coin to judge its grade you have to have some of idea of the original strike which I guess would not be as sharp and well defined as a modern coin. That's what makes it so hard to grade George V silver because of the variable quality of the strike.

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Just landed, type 3a2 with welcome provenance and tickets, the plate coin from Maurice Bull's "The Halfcrowns of Charles I" vol 2 (with his tickets too, I believe)

I say this from a position of ignorance and with respect I fail to see how this coin qualifies for a grading of NVF. Please believe me I am not trying to degrade any coin. As you have probably seen my experience is from modern coins 1816 +. I am not disagreeing with this grading but fail to see how it is attributed. If I was asked to grade this coin based on my experience of modern coins I would give it a grading of fair. The design is flat in places the inscription around the coin is not clear all the things that point towards a coin of low grade. Having said this the coin is seems to be manually struck coin however I was always told the age of the coin has nothing to do with the grading and the coin should be graded accordingly. Your advice is requested.

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I say this from a position of ignorance and with respect I fail to see how this coin qualifies for a grading of NVF. Please believe me I am not trying to degrade any coin. As you have probably seen my experience is from modern coins 1816 +. I am not disagreeing with this grading but fail to see how it is attributed. If I was asked to grade this coin based on my experience of modern coins I would give it a grading of fair. The design is flat in places the inscription around the coin is not clear all the things that point towards a coin of low grade. Having said this the coin is seems to be manually struck coin however I was always told the age of the coin has nothing to do with the grading and the coin should be graded accordingly. Your advice is requested.

The grading of hammered coins is very different from milled. Most hammered coins have flat areas due to weak striking and not from wear. These do not normally downgrade the coin but qualifiers are sometimes used. E.g. NVF but weak spots in legends etc. Grading of hammered is more about assessing the amount of wear on the best struck parts.

Grade is also considerably less important for hammered as there are other important factors to consider such as the shape of the flan (whether it is round or irregular), size of the flan, flan cracks, strike, weight, if the design is well centered,... etc

Each coin is unique and so cannot be treated like the mass produced milled.

I say this from a position of ignorance and with respect I fail to see how this coin qualifies for a grading of NVF. Please believe me I am not trying to degrade any coin. As you have probably seen my experience is from modern coins 1816 +. I am not disagreeing with this grading but fail to see how it is attributed. If I was asked to grade this coin based on my experience of modern coins I would give it a grading of fair. The design is flat in places the inscription around the coin is not clear all the things that point towards a coin of low grade. Having said this the coin is seems to be manually struck coin however I was always told the age of the coin has nothing to do with the grading and the coin should be graded accordingly. Your advice is requested.

Its a Good fine for me , it could have been a better strike though , pretty typical of the period. As a plus its a nice round flan with no clipping

Edited February 16 by copper123

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The grading of hammered coins is very different from milled. Most hammered coins have flat areas due to weak striking and not from wear. These do not normally downgrade the coin but qualifiers are sometimes used. E.g. NVF but weak spots in legends etc. Grading of hammered is more about assessing the amount of wear on the best struck parts.

Grade is also considerably less important for hammered as there are other important factors to consider such as the shape of the flan (whether it is round or irregular), size of the flan, flan cracks, strike, weight, if the design is well centered,... etc

Each coin is unique and so cannot be treated like the mass produced milled.

Thanks for that. I'll look at hammered coins with different eyes in future. I still think having an idea of how these coins would have looked when they were struck is important when assessing their grade.

As an aside when grading a lightly struck massed produced milled coin I always check the condition of the milling not just for knocks but signs of wear which is a good indication in deciding between a light strike and surface wear on a coin.

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The grading of hammered coins is very different from milled. Most hammered coins have flat areas due to weak striking and not from wear. These do not normally downgrade the coin but qualifiers are sometimes used. E.g. NVF but weak spots in legends etc. Grading of hammered is more about assessing the amount of wear on the best struck parts.

Grade is also considerably less important for hammered as there are other important factors to consider such as the shape of the flan (whether it is round or irregular), size of the flan, flan cracks, strike, weight, if the design is well centered,... etc

Each coin is unique and so cannot be treated like the mass produced milled.

Thanks for that. I'll look at hammered coins with different eyes in future. I still think having an idea of how these coins would have looked when they were struck is important when assessing their grade.

As an aside when grading a lightly struck massed produced milled coin I always check the condition of the milling not just for knocks but signs of wear which is a good indication in deciding between a light strike and surface wear on a coin.

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My latest acquisition received today. The obverse is pretty good for a low relief 1921 halfcrown while the reverse has some weakness on the lions' faces on the shield and also the scotch lion. Overall I think a well struck coin for the period